So this is an active speaker?
http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-Studiophile-Powered-Speakers-Previous/dp/B000MUXJCO
Just being powered does not make it active.
Likewise, the amps not being "built in" to the speaker, does not mean it is passive, if there is no resistive attenuation.
Wikipedia agrees with me
Note that these distinctions only apply to those components listed below that would be modeled as elements within circuit analysis. Practical items that act as transducers or have other connections to the outside world, such as switches, aren't subject to this form of classification, since they defy the view of the electronic circuit as a closed system.
Given that drivers (the actual loudspeakers) are transducers, all that's left is what's between the preamp and amp or the amp and the loudspeaker - either a passive component (true for the M-Audio and Untrue for the Orion)
There can be powered, bi amped speakers with passive line level crossovers. Again, these are not active even though the amp is directly connected to the driver. But for most purposes they're just as effective as an active crossover.
An active loudspeaker <i>needs</i> an active crossover. That is the only definition. The orion crossover uses active electronic boosting to get its frequency response.
The Orion is necessarily active, but not with built-in amps. It is not functional without amps, but it is not a resistive component either.
The M-Audio is passive, but powered. All of its functions are resistitve by nature, even though it has built in amplification.
You're right in that the amplifiers are an active component, but they are not a part of the speaker, even if they're built in. The speaker is the transducer, so if you want to really get anal, there is no possible such thing as an active loudspeaker. Only a powered or unpowered speaker with an active or passive crossover. But that's just arguing semantics. Since crossovers are considered "part" of what makes a speaker a speaker, it can be part of the speaker. The amp can never be part of the speaker, even if it's built in, it is functionally doing its job to the signal, but not to the speaker. The crossover's job is to correct the speaker's inherent response, the amp's job is to correct the preamp's lack of current/voltage.
As far as subwoofers go, we might loosely call unpowered subwoofers "passive subs" but that's exactly what that is, a loose definition that's easy for people to "imagine". In reality, unless the subwoofer is in parallel with the loudspeakers with resistive attenuation between it and the amp (and this includes natural inductive rolloff, as is the case with the RBH T-series speakers), it will ultimately be part of an active loudspeaker system.
